Bulgaria and Czech Rep. submit to lure of being accepted at the EU "cool kids table"

This August, both the parliaments in Sofia and Prague are expected to raise taxes on cigarettes as part of their acceptance within the European Union. While both are unimpeachable (I think?) members of the European Union, they are raising their taxes to be in-line with EU norms.

In the case of Bulgaria:

The official reasoning behind the excise hike is the need to reach the minimum EU rates ... in view of Sofia's bid for an eurozone [countries who utilize the Euro] entry. In 2006, Bulgaria hiked the excise on cigarettes to a level originally not expected to be reached before 2008. The move added 1 lev on average to the retail price of cigarettes.

This demonstrates a raise of nearly 30%. The Black Sea nation is also expected to fall in line with the EU tax schemes on alcoholic beverages, energy, and petrol by 2013.

In the CR:

Consumer tax on cigarettes will likely be higher than as originally proposed in the Czech government's fiscal reform package, in order to meet the Czech Republic's promise to the European Union, made on the country's accession to the union, daily MF Dnes reported.
The tax will likely hike the price of each pack of cigarettes by 5 crowns, compared to the previously proposed 4 crowns, to meet the EU requirement that the minimal tax on one thousand cigarettes equals 64 euro.

Basically the drive for cigarette tax conformity is a push from EU heavyweights in the western part of the continent in an effort to bring enlightenment to their less "civilized" continetal bretheren in the east.